spinothalamic tract
Pain signal route
The spinothalamic tract is a sensory pathway in the spinal cord that carries pain, temperature, and crude touch signals from the body to the thalamus in the brain.
Damage to this tract can cause loss of sensation on the opposite side of the body below the injury: The neurologist tested spinothalamic function by applying a cold stimulus.
- painBodily or emotional distress
- sensoryRelated to perception
- temperatureMeasured heat intensity
- touchPerceiving through physical contact
- ascendingMoving upward
pathway · neurons · dermatome · fibers · anterolateral · brainstem · sensation · numbness · tingling · burning · sharp · dull · receptors · axons · synapses · medulla · cortex · referred pain
- neural pathwaysfornix
- spinal cordgray matter, white matter, grey matter, nerve roots, motor neurons
- brainstembrainstem, brain stem, medulla, medulla oblongata, pons
- diencephalonhypothalamus, pineal gland, third ventricle, mammillary bodies
- sensory receptorsmechanoreceptors, pain receptors, chemoreceptors, proprioceptors, baroreceptors